Pink ball in twilight slightly tricky: Pujara
KOLKATA: Cheteshwar Pujara can’t wait for India’s first ever Day/night Test to begin despite the talk of it being a challenge. He believes India’s formidable batting line-up will have no trouble adapting to the pink ball.
Pujara topped the run charts (453) with two daddy hundreds, including a 256 not out for India Blue in the Duleep Trophy more than three years back when the pink ball was experimented with for the first time by the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI technical committee.
“It’s going to be exciting...what we played was a firstclass match, this is going to be a Test match. I’m sure all the players are excited about it,” the
Indian Test No.3 said.
Pujara said pink ball could pose some problems during the twilight period. “In the twilight period, I feel that maybe, sighting the ball could be a little challenging. (But) the more you play, you get used to it. It’s always about experience and knowing how the ball is behaving,” he said.
Pujara had complained about sighting the ball under lights in the 2016-17 season but he claims to be better-prepared now.
“The more we play, the more we gain experience of how to tackle the ball. Every ball has its challenges. I don’t think it will require a huge change to shift from red ball to pink ball. The reason is it’s the same format. We are still playing a five-day match,” the 31-year-old said.
“Yes, under lights, it will be different. But it’s about getting used to the pink ball. That’s what I feel. Rest, I don’t think will be a major difference. Once we play some Test matches, we will be able to know the exact difference and can improvise.” Apart from
Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Wriddhiman Saha, from the current Indian Test squad, have the experience of playing with a pink ball at the domestic level.
Summing up the mood in the camp, he said: “We wont’ have any issue. Most of the guys have played in Duleep Trophy and for the ones who have not played, it would be a good learning curve for them.
“The help for the bowlers could come at a different times unlike the traditional Tests. It could be under lights or without lights. Once we play, we will get to know about all such things. We will have to adapt to it as quickly as possible.”
The pink-ball innovation has been seen as the future of the
Test format which is battling to keep the spectators’ interested. Pujara, however, adopted a waitand-watch policy. “It’s too early to say. Once I’ve some experience I will be able to say,” he said. Pujara seemed more concerned about winning the match and the series as 120 points would be up for grabs in the two-game series.
“Pink ball or not, the format still remains the same. We would want to win as many matches as possible because points are at stake. Whether it’s red ball or pink ball, ultimately you have to play well and win the game,” he said.
Pujara is due a big knock, having got out for 81 (Vizag) and 58 (Pune) in the recently-concluded South Africa Test series and he is hoping a big hundred would come soon.